tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/nodapl-32104/articles#NoDAPL – The Conversation2017-03-21T18:41:00Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/747322017-03-21T18:41:00Z2017-03-21T18:41:00ZWhy is water sacred to Native Americans?<p>The Lakota phrase “Mní wičhóni,” or “Water is life,” has become a new national protest anthem. </p>
<p>It was chanted by 5,000 marchers at the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/american-indians-to-march-on-white-house-in-rally-for-rights/2017/03/10/8b327e84-04e3-11e7-ad5b-d22680e18d10_story.html?utm_term=.af983e52c1a2">Native Nations March</a> in Washington, D.C. on March 10, and during hundreds of protests across the United States in the last year. “Mní wičhóni” became the anthem of the almost year-long struggle to stop the building of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-will-native-tribes-fight-the-dakota-access-pipeline-in-court-72839">Dakota Access Pipeline</a> under the Missouri River in North Dakota. </p>
<p>This chant mirrors the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDbSjkkHPGs">civil rights anthems</a> of the past, which emerged out of the African-American church. “Mní wičhóni” in the Lakota language also has spiritual meaning, which is rooted in a connection to nature. As a <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-makes-a-mountain-hill-or-prairie-a-sacred-place-for-native-americans-73169">Native American scholar</a> of environment and religion, I understand what makes the relationship between Native people and the natural world unique. </p>
<p>For Native Americans, water does not only sustain life – it is sacred.</p>
<h2>Water and the American West</h2>
<p>The Great Plains of North America, home to the Lakota, the Blackfeet and other tribes, is a dry, arid place. The U.S. government spends billions of dollars to control and retain water in this “<a href="http://www.lib.msu.edu/branches/map/US/800-c-reg4-D-1823-400/">Great American desert</a>,” as it was described in the early 19th century.</p>
<p>Geologist <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/9780060955861/down-the-great-unknown">John Wesley Powell</a>, an early director of the U.S. Geological Survey, pointed out in an important <a href="https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/70039240">1878 government study</a> that the defining characteristic of the Great Plains and the West was its lack of water. He attempted to promote land ownership that was based on watersheds, instead of dividing land into the rectangular lots still in use today. </p>
<p>Powell also recommended that America adopt a new type of land development – one that worked with nature, so everyone had access to water.</p>
<p>The U.S. government, however, ignored Powell’s ideas. Writing on this issue later, author <a href="https://wallacestegner.org/bio.html">Wallace Stegner</a>, who was passionate about the West, <a href="https://www.press.umich.edu/7374/american_west_as_living_space">commented</a>, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“[W]hat do you do about aridity….You may deny it for a while. Then you must either adapt to it or try to engineer it out of existence.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The Lakota, the Blackfeet and the other tribes understood how to live with nature. They knew it was best to live within the restrictions of the limited water supply of the Great Plains. </p>
<h2>Water as sacred place</h2>
<p>For thousands of years, Native American tribes across the <a href="http://www.oupress.com/ECommerce/Book/Detail/272/common%20and%20contested%20ground">Great Plains</a> developed their own methods of living with the natural world and its limited water supply. They learned both through observation and experiment, arguably a process quite similar to what we might call science today. They also learned from their religious ideas, passed on from generation to generation in the form of stories.</p>
<p>I learned from my grandparents, both members of the Blackfeet tribe in Montana, about the sacredness of water. They shared that the Blackfeet believed in three separate realms of existence – the Earth, sky and water. The Blackfeet believed that humans, or “Niitsitapi,” and Earth beings, or “Ksahkomitapi,” lived in one realm; sky beings, or “Spomitapi,” lived in another realm; and underwater beings, or “Soyiitapi,” lived in yet another realm. The Blackfeet viewed all three worlds as sacred because within them lived the divine.</p>
<p>The water world, in particular, was held in special regard. The Blackfeet believed that in addition to the divine beings, about which they learned from <a href="http://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/product/Invisible-Reality,677467.aspx">their stories,</a> there were divine animals, such as the beaver. The divine beaver, who could talk to humans, taught the Blackfeet their most important religious ceremony. The Blackfeet needed this ceremony to reaffirm their relationships with the three separate realms of reality.</p>
<p>The Soyiitapi, divine water beings, also instructed the Blackfeet to protect their home, the water world. The Blackfeet could not kill or eat anything living in water; they also could not disturb or pollute water.</p>
<p>The Blackfeet viewed water as a distinct place – a sacred place. It was the home of divine beings and divine animals who taught the Blackfeet religious rituals and moral restrictions on human behavior. It can, in fact, be compared to Mount Sinai of the <a href="https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Exodus-Chapter-1/">Old Testament</a>, which was viewed as “holy ground” and where God gave Moses the Ten Commandments.</p>
<h2>Water as life</h2>
<p>Native American tribes on the Great Plains knew something else about the relationship between themselves, the beaver and water. They learned through observation that beavers helped create an ecological oasis within a dry and arid landscape. </p>
<p>As Canadian anthropologist R. Grace Morgan hypothesized in her dissertation “<a href="https://era.library.ualberta.ca/files/df65vb64j#.WMxDHW_yvX4">Beaver Ecology/Beaver Mythology</a>,” the Blackfeet sanctified the beaver because they understood the natural science and ecology of beaver behavior. </p>
<p>Morgan believed that the Blackfeet did not harm the beaver because <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/leave-it-to-beavers-leave-it-to-beavers/8836/">beavers built dams</a> on creeks and rivers. Such dams could produce enough of a diversion to create a pond of fresh clean water that allowed an oasis of plant life to grow and wildlife to flourish.</p>
<p>Beaver ponds provided the Blackfeet with water for daily life. The ponds also attracted animals, which meant the Blackfeet did not have to travel long distances to hunt. The Blackfeet did not need to travel for plants used for medicine or food, as well. </p>
<p>Beaver ponds were a win-win for all concerned in “the Great American desert” that <a href="https://theconversation.com/give-beavers-permanent-residence-wed-be-dam-stupid-not-to-55256">modern ecologists and conservationists</a> are beginning to study only now.</p>
<p>For the Blackfeet, Lakota and other tribes of the Great Plains, water was “life.” They understood what it meant to live in a dry arid place, which they expressed through their religion and within their ecological knowledge.</p>
<h2>Rights of Mother Earth</h2>
<p>Indigenous people from around the world share these beliefs about the sacredness of water. </p>
<p>The government of New Zealand recently recognized the ancestral connection of the Maori people to their water. On March 15, the government passed the “Te Awa Tupua <a href="http://www.legislation.govt.nz/bill/government/2016/0129/latest/DLM6830851.html?src=qs">Whanganui River Claims Settlement</a> Bill,” which provides “personhood” status to the Whanganui River, one of the largest rivers on the North Island of New Zealand. This river has come to be recognized as having “all the rights, powers, duties, and liabilities of a legal person” – something the Maori believed all along. </p>
<p>Many other countries have come to view the natural world and water from a similar perspective. In Bolivia, for example, the government passed laws in 2010 and 2012 for the “<a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41268-016-0001-0">Law of the Rights of Mother Earth</a>,” which were motivated by the belief that nature has legal rights. The <a href="http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Constitutions/Ecuador/english08.html">Ecuadorian constitution</a> in 2008 recognized the rights of “Nature, or Pacha Mama,” with “respect for its existence,” which included water.</p>
<p>The United States does not have such laws. This is why the Standing Rock Lakota have been demanding for almost a year a right to clean water – free from the threat of potential environmental harm and to protect its sacredness.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74732/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rosalyn R. LaPier does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>For the Blackfeet, Lakota and other Native American people, water does more than sustain life – it’s the place of the divine.Rosalyn R. LaPier, Research Associate of Women's Studies, Environmental Studies and Native American Religion, Harvard Divinity School, Harvard UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/731692017-02-16T20:32:25Z2017-02-16T20:32:25ZWhat makes a mountain, hill or prairie a ‘sacred’ place for Native Americans?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157179/original/image-20170216-9506-yb99hc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A woman holds Pope Francis' head during his meeting with representatives of indigenous peoples at the Vatican on Feb. 15, 2017.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">L'Osservatore Romano/Pool Photo via AP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>For several months Native American protesters and others have been opposing the building of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The plans for construction pass through sacred land for the Native American tribe, Standing Rock Sioux.</p>
<p>But, within days of taking office, President Donald Trump signed a memorandum supporting the construction of the pipeline. Recently a U.S. federal judge denied a request by tribes to halt construction on the final link of the project.</p>
<p>On Wednesday, however, the protesters appeared to have received support from none other than Pope Francis, a long-time defender of indigenous people’s rights. The pope <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-north-dakota-pipeline-pope-idUSKBN15U1VA">said</a> indigenous cultures have a right to defend “their ancestral relationship to the Earth.” <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-north-dakota-pipeline-pope-idUSKBN15U1VA">He added</a>,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Do not allow those that destroy the Earth, which destroy the environment and the ecological balance, and which end up destroying the wisdom of peoples.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>As a Native American scholar of environmental history and religious studies, I am often asked what Native American leaders mean when they say that certain landscapes are “sacred places” or “sacred sites.” </p>
<p>What makes a mountain, hill or prairie a “sacred” place?</p>
<h2>Meaning of sacred spaces</h2>
<p>I learned from my grandparents about the sacred areas within <a href="http://blackfeetnation.com/">Blackfeet tribal territory</a> in Montana and Alberta, which is not far from Lakota tribal territory in the Dakotas. </p>
<p>My grandparents said that sacred areas are places set aside from human presence. They identified two overarching types of sacred place: those set aside for the divine, such as a dwelling place, and those set aside for human remembrance, such as a burial or battle site.</p>
<p>In my <a href="http://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/product/Invisible-Reality,677467.aspx">forthcoming book “Invisible Reality,”</a> I contemplate those stories that my grandparents shared about Blackfeet religious concepts and the interconnectedness of the supernatural and natural realms. </p>
<p>My grandparents’ stories revealed that the Blackfeet believe in a universe where supernatural beings exist within the same time and space as humans and our natural world. The deities could simultaneously exist in both as visible and invisible reality. That is, they could live unseen, but known, within a physical place visible to humans.</p>
<p>One such place for the Blackfeet is Nínaiistáko, or Chief Mountain, in Glacier National Park. This mountain is the home of Ksiistsikomm, or Thunder, a primordial deity. My grandparents spoke of how this mountain is a liminal space, a place between two realms. </p>
<p>Blackfeet tribal citizens can go near this sacred place to perceive the divine, but they cannot go onto the mountain because it is the home of a deity. Elders of the Blackfeet tribe believe that human activity, or changing the physical landscape in these places, disrupts the lives of deities. They view this as sacrilegious and a desecration. </p>
<h2>A living text</h2>
<p>Sacred places, however, are not always set aside from humanity’s use. Some sacred places are meant for constant human interaction.</p>
<p><a href="http://blog.nmai.si.edu/main/2013/08/in-memoriam-keith-h-basso-19402013.html">Anthropologist Keith Basso</a> argued in his seminal work <a href="http://www.unmpress.com/books.php?ID=770">“Wisdom Sits in Places”</a> that one purpose of sacred places was to perfect the human mind. The Western Apache elders with whom Basso worked told him that when someone repeated the names and stories of their sacred places, they were understood as “repeating the speech of our ancestors.”</p>
<p>For these Apache elders, places were not just names and stories – their landscape itself was a living sacred text. As these elders traveled from place to place speaking the names and stories of their sacred text, they told Basso that their minds became more “resilient,” more “smooth” and able to withstand adversity. </p>
<h2>The sacredness of the pipeline site</h2>
<p>At different national and international venues, Lakota leader Dave Archambault Jr. has stated that the Lakota view the area near the potential construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline as both a “sacred place” and a “burial site,” or as both a place set aside from human presence and a place of human reverence.</p>
<p>Lakota scholar Vine Deloria Jr. <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_World_We_Used_to_Live_in.html?id=S6F7MKRoFS4C">described the “sacred stones”</a> in North Dakota in his book “The World We Used to Live In” as having the ability of “forewarning of events to come.”</p>
<p>Deloria described how Lakota religious leaders went to these stones in the early morning to read their messages. Deloria shared the experiences of an Episcopal minister from 1919.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“A rock of this kind was formerly on Medicine Hill near Cannon Ball Sub-station…. Old Indians came to me… and said that the lightning would strike someone in camp that day, for a picture (wowapi) on this holy rock indicated such an event…. And the lightning did strike a tent in camp and nearly killed a woman…. I have known several similar things, equally foretelling events to come, I can not account for it.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_World_We_Used_to_Live_in.html?id=S6F7MKRoFS4C">Deloria explained</a> that it was “birds, directed by the spirit of the place, [that] do the actual sketching of the pictures.” The Lakota named this area Ínyanwakagapi for the large stones that served as oracles for their people. The Americans renamed it Cannonball.</p>
<h2>Not just Dakota</h2>
<p>Historians, anthropologists and religious thinkers <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Where_the_Lightning_Strikes.html?id=UpIMJdc29qoC">continue to learn and write</a> about Native American religious ideas of place. In so doing, they seek to analyze complex religious concepts of transformation and transcendence that these places evoke.</p>
<p>However, despite their contributions to the academic interpretation of religion, these understandings do not often translate into protection of Native American places for their religious significance. As <a href="https://www.aclu.org/bio/stephen-pevar">legal scholar Stephen Pevar</a> <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-rights-of-indians-and-tribes-9780199795352?cc=us&lang=en&">tells us,</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>“there is no federal statue that expressly protects Indian sacred sites…. in fact, the federal government knowingly desecrates sites.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>In the past year we have seen protests over the potential <a href="https://www.hawaii.edu/offices/bor/regular/testimony/201504161130/4-14-2015_Toledo_TMT.pdf">desecration of sacred places</a> at Mauna Kea in Hawaii (over the construction of another telescope on a sacred volcano), <a href="http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2016/03/30/oak-flat-deal-violates-apache-rights-mining-best-practices">Oak Flats in Arizona</a> (over a potential copper mine on sacred land) and now at <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-37834334">Standing Rock in North Dakota</a>. </p>
<h2>Lack of understanding of sacredness</h2>
<p><a href="http://hds.harvard.edu/people/william-graham">William Graham, a former dean</a> of the Harvard Divinity School, <a href="http://bulletin.hds.harvard.edu/articles/summerautumn2012/why-study-religion-twenty-first-century">wrote that</a>, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Religion… will long continue to be a critical factor in individual, social, and political life around the world, and we need to understand it.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The intimate connection between landscape and religion is at the center of Native American societies. It is the reason that thousands of Native Americans from across the United States and indigenous peoples from around the world have traveled to the windswept prairies of North Dakota.</p>
<p>But, despite our 200-plus years of contact, the United States has yet to begin to understand the uniqueness of Native American religions and ties to the land. And until this happens, there will continue to be conflicts over religious ideas of land and landscape, and what makes a place sacred.</p>
<p><em>Editor’s note: This is an updated version of an article first published on Nov. 2, 2016.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/73169/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rosalyn R. LaPier does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Pope Francis appears to have defended Native American protests on the North Dakota pipeline issue. Indigenous cultures have a right to defend ‘their ancestral relationship to the Earth,’ he said.Rosalyn R. LaPier, Visiting Assistant Professor of Women's Studies, Environmental Studies and Native American Religion, Harvard UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/692712016-12-16T03:19:53Z2016-12-16T03:19:53Z‘Slacktivism’ that works: ‘Small changes’ matter<p>In 2013, <a href="https://www.change.org/p/no-more-steubenvilles-educate-coaches-about-sexual-assault">an online petition</a> persuaded a national organization representing high school coaches to develop materials to <a href="http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/04/girls-tweeting-not-twerking-their-way-to-power/">educate coaches about sexual assault and how they could help reduce assaults by their athletes</a>. Online petitions have changed decisions by major corporations (<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/nov/02/petition-bank-of-america-debit-card-fee">ask Bank of America</a> about its debit card fees) and affected decisions on policies as diverse as those related to <a href="https://www.wired.com/2016/06/funny-die-helped-congress-finally-agree-something/">survivors of sexual assault</a> and <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/digitally-enabled-social-change">local photography permitting requirements</a>. Organizing and participating in these campaigns has also been <a href="https://mobilizingideas.wordpress.com/2011/12/12/reflections-on-digitally-enabled-social-change-activism-in-the-internet-age/">personally meaningful</a> to many. </p>
<p>But, <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/10/04/small-change-malcolm-gladwell">a nostalgia for 1960s activism leads many to assume that “real” protest only happens on the street</a>. Critics assume that classic social movement tactics such as rallies and demonstrations <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/03/29/the-fall-and-rise-from-we-shall-overcome-to-we-are-the-world.html">represent the only effective model for collectively pressing for change</a>. Putting your body on the line and doing that collectively for decades is viewed as the only way “people power” works. Engaging online in “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slacktivism">slacktivism</a>” is a waste, making what cultural commentator Malcolm Gladwell has called “<a href="http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/10/04/small-change-malcolm-gladwell">small change</a>.”</p>
<p>This amounts to a debate over the “right way” to protest. And it’s <a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/hillary-clinton-president-change-org-donald-trump-electoral-college/">bound to heat up</a>: The election of Donald Trump is pushing <a href="https://grist.org/living/environmental-organizations-see-an-outpouring-of-support-post-election/">many people who have not previously engaged</a> <a href="http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/politics/bs-md-trump-advocacy-20161112-story.html">in activism</a> to look for ways to get involved; others are redoubling their efforts. People have a range of possible responses, including doing nothing, using online connections to mobilize and publicize support and protesting in the streets – or some combination of tactics.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://mobilizingideas.wordpress.com/2015/11/13/informing-activists/">social movement scholar</a> and someone who believes we should leverage all assets in a challenge, I know that much social good can come from mass involvement – and <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/digitally-enabled-social-change">research shows that includes online activism</a>. The key to understanding the promise of what I prefer to call “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Net-Effect-Cyberadvocacy-Political-Landscape/dp/1879617463">flash activism</a>” is considering the bigger picture, which includes all those people who care but are at risk of doing nothing.</p>
<h2>Most people are apathetic</h2>
<p>Social movement scholars have known for decades that most people, even if they agree with an idea, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2095297">don’t take action to support it</a>. For most people upset by a policy decision or a disturbing news event, the default is not to protest in the streets, but rather to <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2095324">watch others as they do</a>. Getting to <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9780470999103.ch16">the point where someone acts as part of a group</a> is a milestone in itself.</p>
<p>Decades of research show that <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/digitally-enabled-social-change">people will be more willing to engage in activism that is easy, and less costly</a> – emotionally, physically, or financially. For example, <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-can-the-mass-check-in-at-standing-rock-tell-us-about-online-advocacy-68276">more than a million people used social media</a> to “check in” at the Standing Rock Reservation, center of the Dakota Access Pipeline protests. Far fewer people – <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38087180">just a few thousand</a> – have traveled to the North Dakota camps to brave the arriving winter weather and risk arrest.</p>
<p>Once people are primed to act, it’s important not to discourage them from taking that step, however small. Preliminary findings from my team’s current research suggest that people just beginning to explore activism can be disheartened by bring criticized for doing something wrong. Part of the reason people volunteer is to feel good about themselves and effective about changing the world. Shaming them for making “small change” is a way to reduce numbers of protesters, not to increase them. Shaming can also create a legacy of political inactivity: Turning kids off from involvement now could encourage decades of disengagement.</p>
<h2>‘Success’ takes many forms</h2>
<p>“Flash activism,” the label I prefer for online protest forms such as online petition, can be effective at influencing targets in specific circumstances. Think of a flash flood, where the debilitating rush of involvement overwhelms a system. Numbers matter. Whether you are a high school coach, Bank of America, the Obama administration or a local council member, an overwhelming flood of signatures, emails and phone calls can be quite persuasive.</p>
<p>Further, all that 1960s-era street-style protest is effective only in certain circumstances. Research shows it can be very <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/4495030">good at bringing attention to topics</a> that should be on the public or policymakers’ agenda. But historically protests are <a href="http://responsivegov.eu/images/documents/Caren.pdf">less successful at changing entrenched opinions</a>. For instance, once you have an opinion about abortion access, it is fairly difficult for movements to get people to change their views. And, while the protests we are so nostalgic for sometimes succeeded, <a href="http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9781107539211">they also often fail where policy change is concerned</a>.</p>
<h2>The glass can be half-full</h2>
<p>Online protest is easy, nearly cost-free in democratic nations, and can help drive positive social change. In addition, flash activism can help build stronger movements in the future. If current activists view online support as an asset, rather than with resentment because it is different from “traditional” methods, they can mobilize vast numbers of people.</p>
<p>Take, for example, the “<a href="http://invisiblechildren.com/kony-2012/">Kony 2012</a>” viral video campaign calling for the arrest of indicted war criminal Joseph Kony. Some <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/12/business/media/kony-2012-video-illustrates-the-power-of-simplicity.html">hated the campaign</a>; others highlighted its ability to <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/15/opinion/kristof-viral-video-vicious-warlord.html">draw attention to an issue many thought Americans wouldn’t care about</a>. Think about the possibilities. Would Planned Parenthood be unhappy if 100 million Americans watched a persuasive short movie on abortion rights as civil rights today, and shared it with friends? Would the effort “matter”; would it help drive the direction of the public conversation about abortion?</p>
<p>And flash activism isn’t necessarily just a one-time game of numbers; MoveOn showed that with a big enough membership base, you could mobilize large numbers repeatedly. People who participate in one online action may join future efforts, or even broaden their involvement in activism. For example, <a href="http://ypp.dmlcentral.net/sites/default/files/publications/Participatory_Politics_New_Media_and_Youth_Political_Action.2012.pdf">kids who engage in politics online often do other political activities as well</a>.</p>
<h2>Many hands make light work</h2>
<p>Critics often worry that valuing <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/03/29/the-fall-and-rise-from-we-shall-overcome-to-we-are-the-world.html">flash activism will “water down” the meaning of activism</a>. But that misses the point and is counterproductive. The goal of activism is social change, not nostalgia or activism for activism’s sake. Most people who participate in flash activism would not have done more – rather, they would have done nothing at all. </p>
<p>Worse yet, when people denigrate flash activism, they are driving away potential allies. Critics of online efforts no doubt know that not everyone is willing to march or rally – but they miss the important potential for others to take actions that support and actually result in change.</p>
<p>Scholars and advocates alike should stop asking if flash activism matters. We should also stop assuming that offline protest always succeeds. Instead, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/1944-2866.POI357">we should seek out the best ways to achieve specific goals</a>. Sometimes the answer will be an online petition, sometimes it will be civil disobedience and sometimes it will be both – or something else entirely.</p>
<p>The real key for grassroots social change is to engage as many people as possible. That will require flexibility on how engagement occurs. <a href="https://mobilizingideas.wordpress.com/2015/11/13/informing-activists/">If people want larger and more effective social movements</a>, they should be working to find ways to include everyone who will do anything, not upholding an artificial standard of who is a “real activist” and who is not.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/69271/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer Earl receives funding from The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the National Science Foundation. </span></em></p>Much social good can come from mass involvement – and research shows that includes online activism. The bigger picture takes in all those people who care but are at risk of doing nothing.Jennifer Earl, Professor of Sociology, University of ArizonaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/698812016-12-06T02:25:38Z2016-12-06T02:25:38ZVictory at Standing Rock reflects a failure of US energy and climate policy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148750/original/image-20161205-8009-1u7rixc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Gatherers in Cannon Ball, North Dakota celebrate news that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers won't grant an easement for the Dakota Access oil pipeline. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/David Goldman</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The protesters have won. On Sunday, Dec. 4, swayed by possible violence over the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) in North Dakota, the Obama administration declared <a href="https://www.army.mil/article/179095/army_will_not_grant_easement_for_dakota_access_pipeline_crossing">a new route</a> must be chosen. The decision came one day before the official deadline for the protesters to evacuate federal land and just as thousands of <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/12/04/veterans-arrive-at-standing-rock-willing-to-take-a-bullet-to-protect-water-protectors.html">veterans</a> were arriving to act as “shields” for the protesters should any need arise. </p>
<p>In the end, no need did arise, as authorities promised. The pipeline, said to cross sacred sites and to threaten water used by the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, will have to cross the Missouri River somewhere else – unless the incoming administration of Donald Trump <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/latest-national-tribal-leader-praises-pipeline-decision-43981180">seeks to reverse the decision</a>.</p>
<p>The victory must be sweet, for some. But the issues revealed by this local-conflict-turned-national-movement are anything but resolved. A crisis is a terrible thing to waste, so it makes sense to ask hard questions about a troubled U.S. energy situation, which this conflict has illuminated.</p>
<h2>History and symbolism</h2>
<p>What is the big picture? A <a href="http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/environment/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-dakota-access-pipeline/">Native American group</a> and environmentalists, plus other supporters (celebrities, musicians, etc.), are on one side. And on the other is an oil pipeline company, Energy Transfer Partners (ETP of Dallas, Texas), which is supported in part by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and local police. </p>
<p>The protesters, some of whom called themselves water protectors, claimed the pipeline disrupted sacred sites and burial grounds and that its planned route under the Missouri River threatened the water supply of the Standing Sioux. ETP and the Army Corps of Engineers insisted the water would be <a href="http://www.dallasnews.com/business/energy/2016/09/13/kelcy-warrens-energy-transfer-partners-responds-protest-dakota-access-pipeline">safe</a>, as all regulations were obeyed, and the company is 100 percent liable for any damage.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148751/original/image-20161205-8030-1gmf9lj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148751/original/image-20161205-8030-1gmf9lj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148751/original/image-20161205-8030-1gmf9lj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148751/original/image-20161205-8030-1gmf9lj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148751/original/image-20161205-8030-1gmf9lj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148751/original/image-20161205-8030-1gmf9lj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148751/original/image-20161205-8030-1gmf9lj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148751/original/image-20161205-8030-1gmf9lj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Delaying or scrapping an oil pipeline project of any kind means more oil will be transported by rail, which also has risks of spills.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/royluck/12859842853/in/photolist-c6WknQ-kAo4fv-dLg2aE-dUKFmB-oaMiTc-c6Wm3q-vFEDXv-vYy8EZ-osepMy-vXwRrf-vYy8S2-v2hLeV-vXwPXo-vFxGFS-vXwQZJ-vFEDrk-vXwQyo-v2hLtc-vYy97a-v29jQf-vFxvad-vFxGxf-vXwR5J-vYy8t6-pRUB1u-v2hKgc-vFEDCn-vVQURb-vYy7Bg-vFxGRG-vXwRmA-vYy87z-vFxtMo-v29kNh-v29kao-vYy8oB-v2hL8c-vVQUd7-v2hLSi-vFxGD7-vVQUJC-vFxHbu-vFED84-vFxGro-vFEEMB-vFxJ5U-vYacK2">royluck/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A second question concerns context. Fundamentally, this comes back not to water, but oil. Petroleum powers <a href="http://www.iea.org/topics/transport/">over 90 percent</a> of transportation on Earth, and this won’t change for decades: Think of <a href="http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1093560_1-2-billion-vehicles-on-worlds-roads-now-2-billion-by-2035-report">a billion cars</a> (millions more each year), plus millions of planes, trains, trucks, boats and military vehicles – all powered by oil. This makes oil economically critical and a matter of national security.</p>
<p>The U.S., meanwhile, has hugely <a href="http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=20892">improved</a> its energy and national security due to the fracking “revolution.” Money leaving the country to support petrostate dictators is <a href="http://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/index.cfm?page=oil_imports">dramatically down since 2010</a> because of a domestic drilling boom. It is possible, if prices rise, that domestic oil companies will export to U.S. allies, reducing their dependence on such places. </p>
<p>North Dakota is a center of the new production. Because drilling grew very rapidly when prices were high (2011-2014), far more oil was extracted than existing pipelines could handle. This meant a surge in oil trains moving crude to East Coast, Midwest and West Coast refineries at much higher cost and risk to people, waterways and the environment. <a href="https://northdakotapipelines.com/rail-transportation/">Rail shipments</a> now total about 300,000 barrels per day (bbls/d). Planned for 470,000 bbls/d, the DAPL is therefore a much-needed way to get oil off trains and to market. Viewed in this way, the victory at Standing Rock is rough justice for those who want to stop seeing oil trains roll through their towns and cities. </p>
<p>A second element of context is the volatile mixture of history and symbolism. This involves a dark history of domestic colonialism, the innumerable crimes perpetrated by the government against Native Americans, touched on here by the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-archaeological-review-behind-the-dakota-access-pipeline-went-wrong-67815">pipeline crossing burial and artifact sites</a>. </p>
<p>The matter is not academic history but a powerful part of present-day memory and identity. It should not be surprising that skepticism results when federal authorities offer assurances the pipeline will be safe. In truth, the DAPL is <a href="http://www.daplpipelinefacts.com/resources/faq.html">advanced</a>, with the latest sensors to detect even slight flow irregularities and valve systems to automatically shut down the line if problems occur. As an interstate pipeline, the DAPL is mandated to have a high level of engineering, inspection and monitoring. Yet, in the realm of broken history, little of this translates to confidence. </p>
<h2>Water and climate</h2>
<p>The question still must be asked: How real is the threat to water? Not very. The U.S. has roughly <a href="http://phmsa.dot.gov/portal/site/PHMSA/menuitem.6f23687cf7b00b0f22e4c6962d9c8789/?vgnextoid=a62924cc45ea4110VgnVCM1000009ed07898RCRD&vgnextchannel=daa52186536b8210VgnVCM1000001ecb7898RCRD&vgnextfmt=print">160,000 miles</a> of pipelines moving crude and refined oil. Over half the American population lives downstream from one or more lines. Many cross the Missouri River downriver from North Dakota. The DAPL itself will cross several rivers, including the Mississippi, before ending at a transport hub in southern Illinois. The chances of one tiny segment of a 1,200-mile pipeline rupturing, especially in a nonindustrial area, are very small. </p>
<p>Pipeline <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/pipelines-explained-how-safe-are-americas-2.5-million-miles-of-pipelines">safety problems are real</a>, true enough. But the risk is concentrated in certain kinds of pipelines, notably those that are old (over 35 years), local and poorly maintained. None of this applies to the DAPL. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148752/original/image-20161205-25742-1pzgbcm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148752/original/image-20161205-25742-1pzgbcm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148752/original/image-20161205-25742-1pzgbcm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148752/original/image-20161205-25742-1pzgbcm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148752/original/image-20161205-25742-1pzgbcm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148752/original/image-20161205-25742-1pzgbcm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148752/original/image-20161205-25742-1pzgbcm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148752/original/image-20161205-25742-1pzgbcm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A protest in San Francisco: The months-long protests at Standing Rock have galvanized people from around the world because of the powerful symbol of the pipeline project.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/43005015@N06/25379625129/in/photolist-EEHdkB-NN5GSu-NN5Go3-PfJERt-EEHbLK-EEHbqV-NN5AB3-NN5zb7-NN5xYs-NN5wJd-EEDsL8-EEDsEX-EEDsye-EEBF9D-AMWR9Q-EEBEX6-AMWQXh-EEBENi-AMWQKJ-AMWQz3-AMWQpU-PfDxu4-EEBE8F-PfDxe4-EEBDTT-PfDwQ8-NMZikE-EEBD9g-NMZic3-EEBCQF-NMZhMA-EEBCCg-NMZhCY-EEBCsX-NMZhp1-EEBCdt-AMe3u9-NM7LsY-PbDip5-P25FTi-P25EE6-P25DmV-P25C4z-NGcZ7A-NGcXyW-P9Twer-P6Fe4s-P9Tt48-P6F9zh-P6F7uW">Peg Hunter/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>How do the environmentalists fit in (I promise not to discuss celebrities)? A skeptic might say they came to exploit a ripe situation and to further America’s hate affair with the oil industry. True in part, this overlooks the larger reality and its symbolic charge. Stopping the pipeline in one spot, after all, won’t stop oil altogether. </p>
<p>Climate change, however, is a threat most of all to <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-native-american-pipeline-resistance-in-north-dakota-is-about-climate-justice-64714">indigenous peoples around the world</a>. These are people commonly without power who rely on immediately available resources for survival. In the wake of Donald Trump’s election, with its prospect of a great reversal in U.S. climate policy, environmentalists feel common cause with such groups and an intensified need to oppose fossil fuel projects, even the wrong ones. </p>
<h2>Example from Russia?</h2>
<p>Finally, what has been ETP’s stance? The company largely avoided the media spotlight. Oil companies know from long experience it is a waste of time to expect a fair trial in the court of public opinion. </p>
<p>ETP saw the DAPL as a major investment that would serve shareholders, North Dakota and the nation all at once – a winning combination. It played by the written rules, invested much time and money, designed a state-of-the-art pipeline, and worked with the Army Corps of Engineers in meetings with tribal leaders. Doubtless it feels betrayed by Sunday’s decision; it has supply deadlines to meet. </p>
<p>Yet it has <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2016/12/5/13840934/dakota-access-pipeline-energy-transfer-partners-army-corps-trump">rejected</a> the new decision, claiming the government is “currying favor with a narrow and extreme political constituency.” It will most likely wait for better weather under the Trump administration. This seems foolish and guaranteed to create more trouble if followed through. Even Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin, to avoid a public movement, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/apr/27/russia.oil">rerouted a major pipeline</a> in 2006 away from Lake Baikal. </p>
<h2>Adding it up</h2>
<p>The Standing Rock protest, then, is a keyhole into a landscape of unsettled relations regarding energy in America. These relations are tinged with distrust and hostility on all sides. </p>
<p>They include a public fearful about facing the realities of our current energy system, including the risk of oil spills, even as it consumes the largest volumes of oil per capita in the world. They involve activists who, out of frustration, blindly oppose any large-scale fossil fuel or nuclear project, practicing national nimbyism. They are rounded out by a deeply jaded energy industry, mistrustful of the media, the public and the Democratic Party. </p>
<p>Lastly, there is Washington, which has never put together a real domestic energy policy. With regard to fossil, nuclear or renewable sources, policy tends to swing from pro to semi-pro to con to semi-con with every change of administration. To deal with the real problems of energy, climate change above all, this situation needs to change – something all parties should recognize.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/69881/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Scott L. Montgomery does not work or consult for any company or organization mentioned in this article. </span></em></p>The protesters have scored a big victory in the Dakota Access Pipeline conflict, but it’s served only to illuminate the sharp divisions over energy policy in the US.Scott L. Montgomery, Lecturer, Jackson School of International Studies, University of WashingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/682762016-11-04T21:45:28Z2016-11-04T21:45:28ZWhat can the mass ‘check-in’ at Standing Rock tell us about online advocacy?<p>On Oct. 31, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/31/north-dakota-access-pipeline-protest-mass-facebook-check-in">more than a million Facebook users</a> “checked in” at Standing Rock Reservation, on the border between North and South Dakota. Since last March, the Standing Rock Sioux and other tribal communities and activists have been blocking the construction of a crude oil pipeline, which <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-understanding-native-american-religion-is-important-for-resolving-the-dakota-access-pipeline-crisis-68032">threatens sacred sites</a> and the tribe’s water supply.</p>
<p>All those users who checked in had not actually traveled to the encampment. Rather, they’d been prompted by a <a href="http://www.snopes.com/facebook-check-in-at-standing-rock/">post that went viral</a>, claiming that the local sheriff’s department was monitoring online check-ins. It asked people to “overwhelm and confuse” this surveillance effort by using a Facebook feature to signal their presence at the protest. </p>
<p>This was the first time this check-in strategy appears to have been so successful. But as has happened other times online advocacy has gone viral, skepticism and derision followed. Snopes, a site dedicated to debunking internet rumors, quickly <a href="http://www.snopes.com/facebook-check-in-at-standing-rock/">posted an explanation</a>: <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/10/standing-rock-facebook-dakota-access-pipeline-protest">Police were not using Facebook check-ins</a> to track protestors. </p>
<p>Mother Jones magazine described the action as a “<a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/10/standing-rock-facebook-dakota-access-pipeline-protest">waste of time</a>.” And by titling journalist Alexis Kleinman’s otherwise helpful guide for action “<a href="https://mic.com/articles/158162/standing-rock-facebook-check-in-dakota-access-pipeline-protest-isnt-helpful-what-you-can-do#.1GpHsJ8zR">Checking into Standing Rock isn’t helpful</a>,” Mic expressed its ambivalence toward online activism. The piece’s first sentence was clear about this doubt: “Clicking a few buttons on Facebook isn’t enough to make an impact.”</p>
<p>But that rapid dismissal was too quick. As a scholar of media and advocacy, I’ve noticed skepticism whenever activism has attracted lots of attention. In fact, online connections can help overcome obstacles of space, time, income and knowledge to share stories and information while <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/06/occupy-wall-street-social-media_n_999178.html">linking people to each other and to opportunities for action</a>. Indeed, Mic soon revised its article headline: “Checking in at Standing Rock on Facebook is cool – but here’s how you can actually help.” That signaled an important acknowledgment: While online action alone can’t solve a problem, it can be a very useful tool to mobilize people and focus attention on a crucial issue.</p>
<h2>Concerns about surveillance</h2>
<p>One element of the post that caught people’s attention was the claim that police were electronically monitoring the protest. It was tempting to think that faraway individuals could <a href="http://www.vox.com/identities/2016/11/1/13486242/facebook-standing-rock">help thwart that police effort</a> by overloading them with false data.</p>
<p>While police say that wasn’t happening in this case, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/12/technology/aclu-facebook-twitter-instagram-geofeedia.html?_r=0">online surveillance of activists</a> is a real and troubling phenomenon. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security <a href="https://www.aclunc.org/blog/government-watching-blacklivesmatter-and-its-not-okay">has used social media to track Black Lives Matter activists</a> and to locate vigils and actions.</p>
<p>Even decades ago, the practical potential of online communications for organizing and mobilizing was evident. <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-0374.2004.00082.x">In the 1990s, the Zapatistas in Mexico used email listservs</a> to build support and update allies around the world. During the 2009 Green Revolution in Iran, activists used <a href="https://www.wired.com/2009/06/google-maps-track-iran-protests/">Google maps and related apps</a> to direct demonstrators to safe spaces – and the police used that information against the protesters.</p>
<p>The suggestion to check in gave people not directly involved in the Standing Rock protest a plausible way to show concrete support.</p>
<h2>Mobilizing support</h2>
<p>The Standing Rock Sioux and their allies who were physically at the Sacred Stone camp <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/10/facebook-is-overtaken-with-check-ins-to-standing-rock/505988/">do not appear to have called for</a> the mass check-in action themselves. But they pronounced the Facebook activity a “<a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/10/facebook-is-overtaken-with-check-ins-to-standing-rock/505988/">great way to declare solidarity</a>.”</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/144648/original/image-20161104-27947-ng8r6u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/144648/original/image-20161104-27947-ng8r6u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=588&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144648/original/image-20161104-27947-ng8r6u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=588&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144648/original/image-20161104-27947-ng8r6u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=588&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144648/original/image-20161104-27947-ng8r6u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=739&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144648/original/image-20161104-27947-ng8r6u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=739&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144648/original/image-20161104-27947-ng8r6u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=739&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">All your friends went where?!</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Screenshot</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Indeed, the check-in identified more than a million Facebook users who cared enough about the Standing Rock protest to identify themselves publicly as supporters. Their numbers suggested a <a href="http://uahost.uantwerpen.be/m2p/publications/1267094069.pdf">growing critical mass of public sympathy</a>, in a size that could get the attention of politicians who could halt the construction.</p>
<p>In addition, check-ins could take advantage of Facebook’s algorithms to draw even more attention to the protest. Facebook location updates are designed to appear on the feeds of friends and to <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/social.media/08/18/facebook.location/">foster connections between friends</a> who may be physically near one another. For some, <a href="http://computer.howstuffworks.com/internet/tips/how-to-check-in-on-facebook.htm">this allows meeting up at a concert or sale</a>. But in this case, users could exchange information – whether about the Snopes item, ways to contact government representatives to urge them to halt construction or a donation link for the <a href="http://sacredstonecamp.org/">Sacred Stone Camp Legal Defense Fund</a>.</p>
<h2>Forcing news coverage</h2>
<p>The attention built to a point where the mass media could no longer ignore it. Before the check-in action, <a href="http://theantimedia.org/native-american-pipeline-media-blackout/">there had been minimal mainstream coverage</a> of the Dakota Pipeline protest. That left protesters and supporters dependent on social media – and alternative media sources like <a href="http://www.democracynow.org/topics/dakota_access">Democracy Now</a> and <a href="http://countercurrentnews.com/">Counter Current News</a> – to pass the word.</p>
<p>The use of social media and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/jun/11/rise-of-citizen-journalism">citizen journalism</a> to bypass media blackouts is nothing new. Twitter and YouTube allowed protesters to circumvent the mainstream media <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2010/06/evaluating-irans-twitter-revolution/58337/">during the 2009 Green Revolution in Iran</a>. In the summer of 2013, protesters in Istanbul took to Facebook and Twitter to report on the demonstrations and the <a href="http://civicmediaproject.org/works/civic-media-project/uptakecitizenjournalism">ensuing police brutality</a> – while CNN Turk aired <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jun/09/turkey-mainstream-media-penguins-protests">a documentary about penguins</a>.</p>
<p>The Standing Rock check-in did more than share news; it became a newsworthy event on its own. A million people had told Facebook – and therefore their friends – that they had gone to the Dakotas to protest a crude oil pipeline. What was going on? News organizations responded.</p>
<p>In the process, they had to explain what was happening in this remote camp that would motivate people to go there – even virtually. There was increased coverage, including from the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2016/10/31/why-facebook-users-are-checking-in-at-standing-rock/">Washington Post</a>, the <a href="http://www.statesman.com/technology/why-are-facebook-users-checking-standing-rock-indian-reservation/5ZzivqOeVVfmx4TBTHnalM/">Austin American-Statesman</a> and <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/11/01/standing-rock-why-are-thousands-of-facebook-users-checking-in-to/">London’s Telegraph newspaper</a>. In addition to boosting coverage, the check-in action provided a story about a rising tide of public opinion supporting the protestors.</p>
<p>By looking at whether the check-in itself was effective, it is easy to lose sight of the true picture. That single action was never meant to be a click to save the world – and I don’t think anyone actually thought it was intended to. Rather, it took place within a larger context of a growing movement seeking options for further action – particularly from supporters far from the actual protest site. </p>
<p>Most advocacy activities are not used in isolation. The check-in was, instead, a way to amplify the reach and urgency of an important issue, to connect people with each other and to offer them new ways to act.</p>
<p>Whether a similar mass check-in action could work in the future remains to be seen. Some may still view the idea skeptically, in part because in this case it didn’t actually mislead the police. And Facebook itself has been less of a site for action and more of a way to share and exchange information. But for the time being, social media continues to offer opportunities for useful political organization and mobilization.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/68276/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Leshu Torchin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>While online action alone can’t solve a problem, it can be a very useful tool to mobilize people and focus attention on a crucial issue.Leshu Torchin, Senior Lecturer in Film Studies, University of St AndrewsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/664792016-10-17T03:35:53Z2016-10-17T03:35:53Z12 deadly Indigenous Australian social media users to follow<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141115/original/image-20161010-3906-xwcp9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">From a battle over an oil pipeline in the American mid-west to small Australian communities fighting for survival, Indigenous people are harnessing social media to take their stories global.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/40969298@N05/29405124371/in/photolist-LL4rzs-KYsca7-Lu7r7w-LL4ph1-KYDTXg-LSAxaG-LVAn4F-Lu4yG7-LKZUrS-LVAfei-LVAcjk-KYAKvc-LSynhj-KYABkK-KYAy18-KYp2SW-LVzX7n-LSyc3G-KYoRKb-KYoQbQ-LVzPVi-LNvACx-LNvzhr-LKZnVG-LNvwnP-LSxZzb-KYoHjU-LSxYcm-LVzEuz-LNvq84-LSxTBj-KYox31-LKZ6X9-Lu3GeU-LVzgW8-LSxDKw-KYzE28-KYoaXW-LtYLbu-LNqX1X-LNqUt2-LNqRfD-LVuYoR-LVuVLX-LKUuC9-KYiGeh-LKUqab-KYvpL2-LSsESS-LrrLn7/">Joe Brusky/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Social media has revolutionised how we communicate. In <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/the-social-media-revolution-31890">this series</a>, we look at how it has changed the media, politics, health, education and the law.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>In many countries around the world, Indigenous people make up only small percentages of the population. But at a time when <a href="http://www.briansolis.com/2011/05/this-just-in-news-no-longer-breaks-it-tweets/">“news no longer breaks, it tweets”</a> – with information travelling faster than the mainstream media can keep up – social media has become an increasingly powerful way to make our voices heard.</p>
<p>I’m currently in the United States, working on a special issue of the <a href="http://journal.acs.org.au/index.php/ajis/about">Australasian Journal of Information Systems</a> on Indigenous people and social media activism. While here, I’ve been able to closely follow one of the <a href="http://returntonow.net/2016/09/08/dakota-access-oil-pipeline-halted-largest-native-american-protest-history/">largest Native American protests</a> in modern US history.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140421/original/image-20161005-15909-tvuaq7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140421/original/image-20161005-15909-tvuaq7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140421/original/image-20161005-15909-tvuaq7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140421/original/image-20161005-15909-tvuaq7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140421/original/image-20161005-15909-tvuaq7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140421/original/image-20161005-15909-tvuaq7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140421/original/image-20161005-15909-tvuaq7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The Aboriginal flag flying in solidarity at the Sacred Stone Camp, North Dakota, USA.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sacred Stone Camp, Facebook</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Social media has helped the <a href="http://standingrock.org/">Standing Rock Sioux Tribe</a> attract national and global support in <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/09/us/dakota-access-pipeline-protests.html">their fight</a> to protect <a href="http://nativenewsonline.net/currents/standing-rock-sioux-tribe-reasserts-dapl-destroyed-sacred-places/">sacred sites</a> and water supplies from a <a href="http://www.daplpipelinefacts.com/">1,900 kilometre pipeline</a>, expected to carry 470,000 barrels of oil a day just north of their reservation. (Follow the latest #NoDAPL developments on <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23nodapl&src=typd">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=%23nodapl">YouTube</a>, <a href="https://medium.com/tag/nodapl">Medium</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/nodapl/?hl=en">Instagram</a> or see the Aboriginal flag flying at the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/CampOfTheSacredStone/">Sacred Stone Camp</a> via its Facebook page.)</p>
<p>Social media is also crucial to <a href="https://www.facebook.com/sosblakaustralia">#SOSBLAKAUSTRALIA</a> – a campaign against the closure of remote Aboriginal communities that took off after <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/allanclarke/how-a-single-facebook-post-inspired-thousands-to-stand-up-fo?utm_term=.jwpk2gj2L#.niOmMxkMw">a single Facebook post</a> from the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-30/protest-against-forced-closure-aboriginal-communities/6431558">Bieundurry family</a>, residents of the remote Aboriginal community Wangkatjungka.</p>
<p>Within a week of that first Facebook post, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-30/protest-against-forced-closure-aboriginal-communities/6431558">thousands of people across Australia</a> were in the streets. Then came <a href="http://www.vice.com/read/we-spoke-to-western-australian-remote-aboriginal-communities-facing-closure">international media coverage</a> to the issue, as well as support from Indigenous groups <a href="https://intercontinentalcry.org/aboriginal-australian-communities-announce-a-global-call-to-action/">overseas</a>. </p>
<p>I’ve written about the #SOSBLAKAUSTRALIA campaign as an example of the nexus between political activism and Indigenous people’s use of social media in Australia for a chapter of a new book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Negotiating-Digital-Citizenship-Control-Contest/dp/1783488891">Negotiating Digital Citizenship: Control, Contest and Culture</a>. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"682482597394399236"}"></div></p>
<p>There are some challenges. While social media can provide significant <a href="https://theconversation.com/well-connected-indigenous-kids-keen-to-tap-new-ways-to-save-lives-30964">benefits</a> to Indigenous people, we have yet to fully understand the health impacts of constantly being connected and subject to violent and oppressive content. This is something <a href="https://croakey.org/for-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-people-what-are-the-health-impacts-of-social-media/">my current research</a> is focused on. </p>
<p>Indigenous Australians have always been early adopters of technology, and information and communication technologies are no exception. I’d expect that to continue as new media platforms continue to emerge. As <a href="http://www.vividpublishing.com.au/makingtheconnection/Making_The_Connection_eTXT_screen.pdf">Jason Glanville notes</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>what the longest continuous unbroken thread of human history points to is an extraordinary level of capacity and resilience, innovation and adaptability </p>
</blockquote>
<p>There are too many strong Indigenous people on social media to list here. But if you want to tap into the latest in Indigenous Australian news, politics, research, culture and more, these deadly dozen will steer you towards more accounts to following.</p>
<h2>Dameyon Bonson</h2>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">About the Black Rainbow Living Well Foundation.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Dameyon Bonson is the 2016 <a href="http://indigenousx.com.au/dr-yunupingu-award-for-human-rights/">Dr. Yunupingu award for Human Rights</a> recipient and founder of <a href="http://www.blackrainbow.org.au/home.html">Black Rainbow</a>, Australia’s peak suicide prevention group for Indigenous lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people. He’s also the managing director of <a href="https://theindigenist.com">Indigenist</a> and an advocate of Indigenous genius, Indigeneity and wellbeing. </p>
<p><strong>Follow Dameyon on <a href="https://twitter.com/DameyonBonson">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/dameyonbonson">LinkedIn</a>, or Black Rainbow on <a href="https://twitter.com/BlkRnBow">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/BlackRainbowAustralia/">Facebook</a>.</strong></p>
<h2>Leesa Watego</h2>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Leesa Watego talking about Taking Ownership and Building Platforms.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="http://www.notquitecooked.com/p/about-me.html">Leesa Watego</a> started <a href="http://deadlybloggers.com">Deadly Bloggers</a> in 2009, a directory of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writers posting on everything from business to pop culture. She is the director of <a href="https://twitter.com/iscariotmedia">Iscariot Media</a>, a niche media enterprise focusing on creative, online and educational projects. Leesa is an outstanding educator and deep thinker. </p>
<p><strong>Follow Leesa on <a href="https://twitter.com/leesawatego?lang=en">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/NotQuiteCooked/">Facebook</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/leesawatego?&ab_channel=LeesaWatego">YouTube</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/leesawatego">LinkedIn</a> and <a href="http://www.notquitecooked.com/p/about-me.html">more</a>, or Deadly Bloggers on <a href="https://twitter.com/DeadlyBloggers">Twitter</a> or <a href="https://www.facebook.com/deadlybloggers/?fref=ts">Facebook</a>.</strong></p>
<h2>Joe Williams</h2>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">A short film about champion boxer and former rugby league player Joe Williams’ fight with depression.</span></figcaption>
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<p><a href="http://www.joewilliams.com.au/speaking/">Joe Williams</a> works hard to inspire youth and individuals through motivational speaking workshops, run through his charity The Enemy Within. He is impassioned by the high rates of suicides in Indigenous communities – speaking and <a href="http://www.joewilliams.com.au/blog/">writing</a> powerfully about his own experience of surviving a suicide attempt – as well as the continued discrimination Indigenous people face in mainstream media.</p>
<p><strong>Follow Joe on <a href="https://twitter.com/joewilliams_tew">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-williams-51bb9b11a">LinkedIn</a> or <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheEnemyWithinJoeWilliams/">Facebook</a>.</strong></p>
<h2>Amy McQuire</h2>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Amy McQuire leading a video panel on police brutality featuring Leon Petrou’s case.</span></figcaption>
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<p><a href="https://amy-mcquire.com/">Amy McQuire</a> is a journalist with <a href="http://www.989fm.com.au/">98.9FM</a> in Brisbane, the first Indigenous radio station in a capital city. Amy has a history of being vocal about the injustices faced by Indigenous people, including talking about hard issues like Indigenous deaths in custody and police brutality.</p>
<p><strong>Follow Amy on <a href="https://twitter.com/amymcquire">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-mcquire-b504932a">LinkedIn</a> or <a href="https://medium.com/@amymcquire/latest">Medium</a> and 98.9FM on <a href="https://twitter.com/989fmcountry">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/bima989fm/">Flickr</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/989fmcountry/">Facebook</a>.</strong></p>
<h2>Jack Latimore</h2>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Jack Latimore hosting a 2015 panel on New Media and Indigenous Reporting.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Jack Latimore is a <a href="http://caj.unimelb.edu.au/about-us/our-staff">researcher</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/profile/jack-latimore">journalist</a> with The Guardian Australia, writing on Indigenous affairs, politics, culture, tech, media and journalism. He is involved in the development of several projects aimed at improving the quality of Indigenous representation and participation in the mainstream media. </p>
<p><strong>Follow Jack on <a href="https://twitter.com/LatimoreJack">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://medium.com/@latimore">Medium</a> or <a href="https://www.facebook.com/LatimoreJack/">Facebook</a>.</strong></p>
<h2>Euginia Flynn</h2>
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<p><a href="https://eugeniaflynn.wordpress.com">Euginia Flynn</a> is a blogger who writes from her viewpoint as an Aboriginal, Chinese, Muslim woman living on Kulin Country in Melbourne. Euginia is a thoughtful, poised and strong Indigenous woman.</p>
<p><strong>Follow Euginia on <a href="https://twitter.com/flyingenie1">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/blackthoughtslivehere/?fref=ts">Facebook</a>.</strong></p>
<h2>Bronwyn Fredericks</h2>
<p>We have some wonderful academics researching issues that are important to Indigenous Australia. Often referred to as “Blakademics”, many of them are enthusiastic social media users – such as <a href="https://www.cqu.edu.au/about-us/structure/executive/pro-vice-chancellors/indigenous-engagement">Professor Bronwyn Fredericks</a>, one of Australia’s few Indigenous Pro Vice-Chancellors. </p>
<p>Bronwyn promotes issues of health and wellbeing, race/racism, regional development and more. She is also a fantastic supporter of <a href="https://theconversation.com/laying-pathways-for-greater-success-in-education-for-indigenous-australians-54380">Indigenous students</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Follow Bronwyn on <a href="https://twitter.com/BronFredericks">Twitter</a> or <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/bronwyn-fredericks-304173b4">LinkedIn</a>.</strong></p>
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<h2>Summer May Finlay</h2>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Summer May Finlay on #JustJustice.</span></figcaption>
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<p><a href="http://summermayfinlay.blogspot.com.au">Summer May Finlay</a> is a public health professional, PhD candidate and an avid social media user. She is passionate about Australian politics, Aboriginal issues, health, music, art, films and blogs on a variety of other topics. </p>
<p><strong>Follow Summer on <a href="https://twitter.com/OnTopicAus">Twitter</a> or <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/summer-may-finlay-4946698a">LinkedIn</a>.</strong></p>
<h2>Lynore Geia</h2>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Lynore Geia speaking about Close the Gap 2016.</span></figcaption>
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<p><a href="https://research.jcu.edu.au/portfolio/lynore.geia/">Dr Lynore Geia</a> is an impressive advocate for Indigenous Health. She is the founder of <a href="https://croakey.org/about-ihmayday/">Indigenous Health May Day</a> – or <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ihmayday">#IHMayDay</a> – Tweetfests, which have been successful in gaining national support over three consecutive years and getting Indigenous health trending on Twitter.</p>
<p><strong>Follow Lynore on <a href="https://twitter.com/LynoreGeia">Twitter</a> or <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/lynore-geia-ab51a6bb">Linkedin</a>.</strong></p>
<h2>Celeste Liddle</h2>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Celeste Liddle at Communities in Control 2016.</span></figcaption>
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<p><a href="http://blackfeministranter.blogspot.com.au/p/about-black-feminist-ranter.html">Celeste Liddle</a> is the National Indigenous Organiser of the National Tertiary Education Union, freelance opinion writer and social commentator. She <a href="http://blackfeministranter.blogspot.com">blogs</a> at Rantings of an Aboriginal Feminist. Celeste is a strong voice on social media and an advocate for Indigenous-controlled media, as well as the value of having more Indigenous commentary <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/news-and-views/opinion/australia-could-learn-a-lot-if-it-actually-listened-to-indigenous-women-on-domestic-violence-20161005-grvp5w.html">in the mainstream media</a>. As <a href="http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=49969#.V_RD_DJh3v2">Celeste recently wrote</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter… allowed us to connect and organise over vast distances. They also gave us platforms to discuss matters which had long been denied within the mainstream press.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>Follow Celeste on <a href="https://twitter.com/Utopiana">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://au.linkedin.com/in/celeste-liddle-8a012529">LinkedIn</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/blackfeministranter/">Facebook</a>.</strong></p>
<h2>Sandy O'Sullivan</h2>
<p><a href="http://sandyosullivan.blogspot.com">Dr Sandy O’Sullivan</a> is one of our wonderful academic bloggers. She is a great example of the way Indigenous people are making global connections. She is currently in the United States promoting Batchelor Institute’s <a href="http://www.batchelor.edu.au/centre-for-collaborative-first-nations-research/">Centre for Collaborative First Nations Research</a>.</p>
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<p><strong>Follow Sandy on <a href="https://twitter.com/sandyosullivan?lang=en">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://au.linkedin.com/in/sandy-o-sullivan-1a79724">LinkedIn</a> or <a href="https://www.facebook.com/sandyosullivan66">Facebook</a> or the Centre for Collaborative First Nations’ Research on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/firstnationsresearch/">Facebook</a>.</strong></p>
<h2>Luke Pearson and IndigenousX</h2>
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<p>No list of Indigenous Australian excellence on social media would be complete without <a href="http://indigenousx.com.au/about/#.V_t9EpN97eQ">Luke Pearson</a> – founder of the highly influential Indigenous media organisation <a href="http://indigenousx.com.au/">IndigenousX</a>. Luke is also currently a senior digital producer for <a href="https://twitter.com/NITV">NITV</a>. </p>
<p>@IndigenousX started in 2012 as a rotating Twitter account, hosted by a different Indigenous Australian every week, and has since expanded into other social media.
Luke has a great sense of irony, which is often evident in his tweets (like the one above).</p>
<p><strong>Follow Luke on <a href="https://twitter.com/lukelpearson?lang=en">Twitter</a> or <a href="https://au.linkedin.com/in/lupearson">LinkedIn</a> and IndigenousX on <a href="https://twitter.com/IndigenousX">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Indigenousx/">Facebook</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/indigenousx/">Instagram</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTK6oqOtAgPONFsdVyf6fDw?&ab_channel=IndigenousX">YouTube</a>.</strong></p>
<p>That’s just a snapshot of how Indigenous Australians are using social media to connect, debate and advocate to make a difference, as are so many other Indigenous people internationally. As <a href="http://www.vividpublishing.com.au/makingtheconnection/Making_The_Connection_eTXT_screen.pdf">Luke Pearson has said</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>digital technologies, and in particular social media, can be a significant tool for connection, empowerment, education, employment, the ongoing struggle for social justice, and Reconciliation. In fact, whatever issue is being addressed (or is not, as the case may be), I believe the digital world can assist.</p>
</blockquote><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/66479/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bronwyn Carlson receives funding from the Australian Research Council, Discovery (Indigenous) grant for a research project entitled, 'An Examination of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Help-Seeking Behaviours on Social Media' </span></em></p>Indigenous people make up small percentages of the population in many countries – but using social media, Indigenous voices can be heard worldwide. Here are a dozen deadly Australians worth following.Bronwyn Carlson, Associate Professor, Indigenous Studies, University of WollongongLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.